Ohio police officer is fired after fatally shooting Black man

A white Ohio police officer was fired Monday after bodycam footage showed him fatally shooting 47year-old Andre Hill — a Black man who was holding a cellphone — and refusing to administer first aid for several minutes.

Adam Coy was fired hours after a hearing was held to determine his employment, Columbus Public Safety Director Ned Pettus Jr. said in a statement.

“The actions of Adam Coy do not live up to the oath of a Columbus Police officer, or the standards we, and the community, demand of our officers,” the statement read. “The shooting of Andre Hill is a tragedy for all who loved him in addition to the community and our Division of Police.”

Coy remains under criminal investigation for last week’s shooting.

Members of the local Fraternal Order of Police attended the hearing on behalf of Coy, who was not in attendance, according to a statement from Pettus’ office.

“Officer Coy was given the opportunity today to come and participate,”

Brian Steel, vice president of the police union, told reporters Monday. “He elected not to participate. I do not know why . I would have liked to have him here, but it’s his decision.”

Coy and another officer responded to a neighbor’s nonemergency call after 1 a.m. Tuesday about a car in front of his house in the city’s northwest side that had been running, then shut off, then turned back on, according to a copy of the call released Wednesday.

Mayor Andrew Ginther said it remains unclear if that car had anything to do with Hill.

Police bodycam footage showed Hill emerging from a garage and holding up a cellphone in his left hand seconds before he was fatally shot by Coy. There is no audio because the officer hadn’t activated the body camera; an automatic “look back” feature captured the shooting without audio.

Coy, a 17-year member of the force, was relieved of duty, ordered to turn in his gun and badge, and stripped of police powers last week.

The killing of Hill at the hands of Columbus police follows the fatal shooting of Casey Goodson Jr. on Dec. 4 by a white Franklin County Sheriff’s deputy. The shootings have resulted in an outpour of criticism from advocates and the Black community in Columbus for wider and more comprehensive police reform.